Poll: More Russians attending religious services this year

"Interfax," August 3, 2005

Moscow, Russia - Over half the Russians polled have stated their commitment to Orthodoxy (59%), about a third of them claim to be atheists (30%), and 9% indicated their affiliation with other religious confessions.

This data has been reported to Interfax on Tuesday by the Yuri Levada Analytical Center which carried out a representative poll of 2107 Russians in July.

At the same time the outcome of the research has shown that most of the respondents (55%) do not attend religious services at all. Those who do it weekly make up only 3%, while 4% do it once a month, 21% several times a year, and 16% once a year or even more rarely.

A comparison with the same data obtained in 2004 shows that the frequency of attendance of religious services by the Russians has increased a little as 5% more of those polled last year said they did not participate in religious services. The number of those who attend services once or several times a year has also increased by 1-2% during the year.

According to the Levada Center, an overwhelming majority (80%) of the respondents who claim to belong to one of the Christian confessions or do not consider themselves believers have been baptized. However, three thirds of those polled (75%) said they never take communion. Only 3% do it more or less regularly.